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She's chosen you.
Welcome to ant keeping.
Your first ant colony.

You're holding the start of something remarkable: a queen ant who can live for two decades and build a colony of thousands — all from the little test tube in your hands. Whether you bought her from us or caught her yourself, this page tells you exactly what to do next.

From the Best Ants UK team — raising queens and colonies since 1997.

The golden rule

Her test tube IS her home — until she has 10+ workers. The tube isn't temporary packaging. It's the safest nest a founding queen can have: humid, snug and calm, just like the small chamber she would dig in nature. Moving her into an ant farm too early is the number one reason new colonies fail. Be patient — she's worth it.

Queen ant founding her colony inside a test tube with a water reservoir behind cotton wool

Oecophylla smaragdina weaver ant newly arrived queen ant settling quietly in her test tube after delivery

Just arrived? The first days

Leave the parcel unopened for 5 hours at room temperature.
Abrupt temperature changes make ants unwell, so let them adjust gradually inside the parcel first.
Check your queen once. Open gently and make sure she’s safe and sound. Delivery stress can leave ants very still at first. Antenna movement shows she is alive. Leave her undisturbed to settle, and contact us if you are concerned.
Then leave her in peace. Keep the tube in its foil wrap, in normal daylight but never direct sunlight, away from vibrations, speakers and busy spots. No peeking for 4–5 days — she settles fastest when it’s calm.
Keep it all on one page: download our free First-Year Ant Keeping Checklist (PDF) or read the full checklist article.

Life in the test tube

Feeding couldn’t be simpler: once a week, place a tiny drop of protein jelly — about half a grain of rice — on a small piece of tin foil, just inside the tube next to the cotton stopper, at the dry end away from the water. Her water reservoir behind the cotton keeps her supplied for months.
Thinking of heating? Never place the test tube on a heat mat, radiator or under a lamp — it overheats the ants. If you heat at all, warm only 2.5 cm of the tube, at the opposite end from the water. And never put ants in a fridge — sudden cold is just as harmful as sudden heat.
Full details, species by species, are in our free ant care sheets — and the Lasius niger care guide covers Britain’s most-kept species step by step.

Queen ant living safely in her test tube nest with cotton stopper and water reservoir

Iridomyrmex purpureus queen Australian meat ant queen wingless after her mating flight, ready to found a colony

Caught your own queen?

Brilliant — that’s how many of us started. In the UK, queens fly between July and August on the famous flying ant days. A queen found walking without wings is almost certainly mated and ready to found a colony. She’ll most likely be a black garden ant (Lasius niger), sometimes a yellow meadow ant (Lasius flavus).
Set her up in a clean test tube with a water reservoir behind cotton wool, follow the golden rule above, and she’ll do the rest. Our guide on how to find and catch a queen ant in the UK walks you through it, and the Flying Ant Day forecast tells you when to look.

The truth about cheap ant boxes

If you already own a gel ant farm or a thin plastic box from a marketplace or gift shop, this part matters — and none of it is your fault. Those boxes are designed for watching a handful of workers for a week or two. They were never made for a queen.
They have no humidity system, so the nest dries out. Gel farms grow mould within days, and the gel itself makes ants sick. There is no proper chamber where a queen can settle and raise her brood. A colony placed in one rarely survives the month.
A real formicarium gives her what she actually needs: steady humidity, safe chambers, ventilation and room to grow. Our guide to choosing the right ant farm size explains what to look for — whoever you buy from.